August Track Meet: Cool, windy, rainy, and fast!

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FLRC’s 2018 track season is in the books! On a dark and windy (and a little rainy) night, 117 runners from 1 to 71 heated up Lansing High School’s track. And no, we’re not making up any of that numerical nicety, although 1-year-old Willow Donovan did get a lift from her father for the middle section of the 100m, and 71-year-old David Keifer is a regular at our meets as both a runner and a volunteer. Full results are now available.

The 5000m proved surprisingly exciting. Not because of the times, with the Groton speedster Scott Weeks winning it in 16:09, but because Dave Cook started well back in fourth and worked his way up until they were neck-in-neck in the final lap. Weeks tapped his vaunted 800m speed in that final lap and managed to pull out the win by 1 second. Mary Bushallow was the only female entrant, taking the win in 23:16.

Weeks and Cook are both frequent entrants in our meets, but the sprints brought a newcomer, Ching Yu Chang, a veterinary student from Taiwan on a 2-month internship in Ithaca. He won the 100m in 11.39, nipping Kobe Oates in 11.50. On the women’s side, Anna Lowe of Team PREFO ran a strong 14.90 for the win, well ahead of Lansing Lightning’s Annoura Stewart in 16.48

Chang then came back in the 400 and won that too, running 54.03 to Devine Fenner’s 55.50. Lowe and Stewart recapped their 100m races too, with Lowe winning the women’s title in 1:15.6 and Stewart close behind in 1:18.5.

The mile was the marquee event of the night, with twice as many entrants as any other race. Unsurprising, perhaps since it was the final chance for runners to get their fourth mile in the MITHACAL MILE SERIES. In fact, the title in the 20-29 division was being contested in this race, since both Adam Pacheck and Mik Kern needed one more race, and Adam was leading by only a couple of seconds. Kern knew this was his only chance, but after the first lap or so, it was clear that Pacheck had the win in sight. The stiff breeze slowed the times, so Pacheck ran a bit slower than last month to break the tape in 4:36, with Kern gamely coming through in 4:45. The ever-versatile Dave Cook, despite not figuring in the race early on, came on hard to run 4:52. For the women, 16-year-old Catie Eisenhut of Lansing Lightning ran a strong 5:26 for the win, with Megan Luckner second in 5:31. Two other Lansing Lightning runners broke 6:00, so look for the Lansing girls to have a strong cross-country team this year.

We’d like to say more about the 4x200m relay but the rain clouds were so heavy that the ever-advancing darkness made the heats almost impossible to see—we were starting to worry about collisions during the handoffs. That said, our headlamp-equipped volunteers determined that the irrepressible Ching Yu Chang anchored an ad hoc winning team in 1:50.

Speaking of our volunteers, they once again did a fabulous job in challenging conditions that forced us to separate the registration and results table from the finish line. Josh Brockner is coming into his own as head timer now that Scott Wehrwein has moved on; Bruce Roebal continues to be a great starter; Jullien Flynn has become a wizard with entries, seeding, and results; Becca Lovenheim worked wonders with heat management as clerk-of-course with help from Carl Franck; Adam Pacheck did a good job in taking over recording finishers from recently departed Julie Quinn; Truck Rossiter handled backup timing with aplomb, Ally Salce provided lap counting and bell ringing services; Tonya Engst and David Keifer managed registration for individuals and teams; Tom Rishel floated quietly to wherever he was needed; and Anne Shakespeare and Ruth Sproul and Scott Dawson pitched on lane timing and other jobs as needed so other volunteers could race.

That’s it for 2018, and we’ll see you in January 2019 in Barton for the indoor season! As always, if you have any suggestions for how we can improve our meets, let me know. We’re constantly tweaking and adjusting as our meets attract more and younger runners while trying to make sure they’re as enjoyable as ever for long-time participants.

Joining the Cross-Country Team for Fall 2018

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September is just around the corner, and it’s time to sign up for fall cross-country races!

Cross-country is a team sport, and runs typically take place on mowed fields and easy trails. Generally speaking, scoring is based on each team member’s place in the race, so unlike most running races, there is a strong team component.

The FLRC team competes in the five-race Pete Glavin Upstate New York Cross-Country Series (PGXC). Most PGXC teams are co-ed, but men in the Ithaca area run on the High Noon team, while women run on the FLRC team. The two teams carpool together and hang out together at races, much like one co-ed team. In 2018, our teams will join forces to compete in the new PGXC Club Cup competition.

For the first time this year, men and women will run the same distances: 5K for the first race, 6K for the next three races, and 8K for the final race. You can run in all the races, some of the races, or just one.

Races take place in the broad Ithaca/Syracuse/Rochester/Buffalo area, and our home meet this year is at Taughannock State Park (don’t panic, the course is completely flat!). We typically carpool to races, and carpooling can be a great way to get to know your fellow teammates!

Each race costs $20, or you can register for the five-race series for $70 and get a hat.

Dates and details, and a signup link, are here.

2017 team wins beer

We know who’s bringing the beer to the end-of-season party! Julie Barclay, Lorrie Tiley, Jen Spano, Tonya Engst, and Amy Dawson have big smiles after their team win in the 2017 Syracuse race.

Annual Picnic at Upper Buttermilk State Park on August 25th from 4–7 PM

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The FLRC annual picnic will take place on August 25th, 2018, from 4–7 PM at the Upper Buttermilk State Park pavilion. All members are welcome at this fun picnic, where we’ll have food from Jacob Marnell of Fitnell Foods Catering and beer from Hopshire Farm & Brewery, as well as other beverages and cake.

Admission is free, but please RSVP here so that we’ll have enough food and drink for all.

Special events include a volunteer prize raffle and the awards ceremony for the MITHACAL MILE SERIES. As for the raffle, we have some great prizes from local shops, and the more you volunteered, the more chances you’ll have to win! The MITHACAL MILE SERIES encourages and celebrates the efforts of local runners of all ages to race the mile, and it’s based on mile races that have occurred throughout 2018 at FLRC track meets.

We’ll also have games for kids.

The menu:

  • Pulled-pork tacos
  • Chicken drumsticks
  • Vegan smoked eggplant & mushroom scramble
  • Smoked mac & cheese
  • Vegan coleslaw
  • Vegan salsa

Carpooling, cycling, and running are encouraged as transportation modes; Buttermilk charges $8 per car unless you have an Empire Pass.

Directions: Take Route 96B south from Ithaca, past Ithaca College, to West King Road. Turn right on West King Road, and follow signs to the upper entrance, which is immediately before the bridge over Buttermilk Creek. The pavilion is shortly after the parking booth.

We could use a few more volunteers at the picnic, so if you’d like to help out, please contact Shelly Marino at mkm1@cornell.edu.

Bring your smile!

 

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Trail Circuit Mid-Year Standings

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With a number of trail races in the can this year, we’ve started calculating the Stonehead and Pebblehead rankings for the 2018 Finger Lakes Trail Circuit. Kudos to Adam Engst for compiling the rankings, taking over the task from Karen Ingall. Karen had recorded these stats for many years and has now passed on the torch.

For those who aren’t aware, FLRC has three awards at the Annual Meeting in the winter for the previous year’s winners of the Stonehead, Pebblehead, and Boulderhead competitions. With Stonehead and Pebblehead, you get up to 100 points per trail race, based on the percentage of your time versus the winner of the race. So the winner gets 100 points, the second place person usually gets somewhere in the high 90s, and so on. The Stonehead competition takes all the races in the Trail Circuit into account, whereas the Pebblehead competition only looks at your top three races. 

 

Stonehead rankings

Pebblehead rankings

Note that Webscorer has no way of recognizing duplicate names. If you ended up with slightly different name formats in different races, let us know so we can normalize the data.

The Boulderhead competition is a bit different. It’s based on cumulative miles for Trail Circuit races, so if you run the Monster Marathon, you’ll get twice as many distance points as running the Monster Half Marathon, for instance. Boulder rankings will be available soon. More info on the series can be found here and here.

As of July 18, there are three races remaining in the 2018 series: Lucifer’s Crossing 6.66 Mile on August 18, The Monster Marathon and Half Marathon on September 22, and the Danby Down & Dirty 10K and 20K on October 6. The Forge the Gorgeous 3.5- and 7-miler is cancelled this year do to a closure in Gorge Trail at Fillmore Glen State Park.

July Track Meet: Blazing Times and Tons of Kid Heats

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FLRC’s July track meet is in the books, once again showcasing some of the area’s fastest runners and introducing lots of youngsters to running, thanks to the Ithaca Youth Bureau, Lansing Lightning, Auburn Pulsars, and Team PREFO clubs. We had 133 finishers total, nearly 40 percent of whom were under age 10.

The meet led off with the 3000m, which Joshua Derrick took out hard and won handily in 8:59, outpacing Dave Cook’s 9:34. 46-year-old Mary Bushallow won for the women in 13:33.

More exciting was the 200m, with the early heats suffering some timing chaos as the “littles,” as they came to be called, had trouble staying in their lanes. In the last of 15 heats, though, Leon Atkins of the Auburn Pulsars ran a 23.67, outleaning Christopher Simmons, who came through in 23.84, Isaiah Smith, in 24.45. For the women, 19-year-old Maddie Schattinger had no significant competition, winning in 32.77, well ahead of 11-year-old Elena Ruffer’s 34.97.

In the mile, 21-year-old Andrew Davis went out fast but couldn’t hold off Cornell grad student Adam Pacheck, who took time out from volunteering at the meet to run an impressive 4:28, just 4 seconds off his PR, followed by Davis’s 4:42. In his second race of the night, Joshua Derrick was third in 4:48. Also notable were some fast times from High Noon runners Mike Stewart (5:17), Alex Colvin (5:18), and Scott Dawson (5:21). For the women, 52-year-old Michelle Rohl showed the kids how it’s done, looking super smooth while running a 5:45 for the win. She reportedly has the 5th fastest 800m time in the country this year for her age group. 12-year-old Elizabeth Baroody of the Auburn Pulsars was second in 6:12.

Remember, FLRC is running the MITHACAL MILE SERIES and at FLRC’s Annual Picnic on August 25th, we’ll be giving age-group–based awards to those who have the fastest mile races across four of our seven meets, plus the Ithaca Festival Mile. Check your standings!

The final individual event of the night was 10 heats of the 400m, and Leon Atkins upped the excitement for the final by predicting that he’d run under 50 seconds. Alas, he came up short, sort of, recording a time of exactly 50.00 seconds for the win. Christopher Simmons was second in 53.69. Continuing the trend of older women taking the crown, 67-year-old Coreen Steinbach of the Athena Track Club won in 1:18.64, just ahead of 12-year-old Annoura Stewart of the Lansing Lightning in 1:20.19.

Huge thanks once again to our dedicated volunteers. Josh Brockner stepped in as head timer, Bruce Roebal started the races, Becca Lovenheim and Carl Franck juggled the heats as clerks-of-course, Jullien Flynn untangled our spaghetti results with help from Casey Carlstrom, Tonya Engst and David Keifer handled registration, Adam Pacheck, Ally Salce, Tom Rishel, and Sandy Gregorich managed lap counting, backup timing, result reading, and numerous other tasks. And, finally, a fond farewell to Julie Quinn, who has recorded finishers at FLRC track meets for years, but is now heading off to a new job at the University of Virginia.

Finger Lakes 50s: A Race of Ice and Fire

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We really hope you’ve had a chance to cool down a little since race day. Now in the Fifties’ thirty-first year, the Finger Lakes National Forest dished out what we believe is the hottest race day on record. With temperatures reaching close to 100°F by mid-afternoon, we also doled out a record tonnage of ice. A times, our volunteers struggled to keep up with the demand for ice and ice water! If 2017 was the year of the flood, then this was the year of fire — like last year, the 50-mile finishing rate was low, but for a different reason. Many 50-mile runners opted to drop down to the two-loop 50K instead of trudging back out for another lap through the inferno. Overall, times were generally slower than usual (with one notable exception we’ll get to later), yet the three distances totaled 228 finishers out of 250 registrants.

Got any FL50s blog posts or race reports you’d like to share? Send them our way and we’ll link to it on our website and share on social media. And let’s see some photos! Use #FingerLakes50s and/or #FL50s and be sure to tag @FLRCithaca on Instagram and Twitter, find us on Facebook, and join our Strava group.

In additional to the photos on this page, visit our Facebook page for more. We didn’t have a professional photographer and tried to get as many runners as we could. Feel free to copy or share these photos however you want.

Posted by Finger Lakes Runners Club on Saturday, June 30, 2018

25K

On the ladies’ side, Katherine Edwards traveled up from Brooklyn to represent her team The Dashing Whippets. Katherine made good on the name, dashing past the competition to take the win in 2:30:27. We always see a large Brooklyn contingent at the 50s and a handful of Brooklynites on the podiums, so this year was no different. A few minutes later the race for second was close, as Rokhsanna Sadeghi edged out Elinore Loch by just under a minute. Our top masters (40+) woman was Christine Antonini in 3:11:35.

For the men, Patrick Loftus of Washington, D.C., broke the tape first in 2:19:02. The next three guys finished close together. Second place Tyler Barker ran a 2:25:48, with John Kolh and Nery Trigueros Gonza both less than a minute back. Kohl was third overall and also the men’s masters winner.

A couple of local runners, Tommy Hayward and Brett Donaldson, trashed talked their way through the race in a friendly rivalry. Hayward won the contest, but Donaldson could  argue he was saving something in the tank as he was the only FL50s finisher to show up at our Black Diamond Group Run the next morning. Also in the 25K mix was Steve Shaum, whom you know as the FL50s’ Race Director for the past four years. This year Steve passed along the RD torch and was happy to be out running the trails.

25K Full Results

25K runners are feeling fresh as they start off down Potomac Road.

 

Katherine Edwards shows off her finishers mug at the 25K awards ceremony.

50K

Laura Webber proved that masters athletes can compete with the best of them. At age 40, she took the overall win in 6:12:45. Keeping with race tradition, she took home a chainsaw-carved wooden cow for her stellar effort.

Did any of you Pebbleheads run the Tortoise & Hare this year? Then you’d recognize second place woman Emily Funk who is co-RD of Tortoise and ran a 6:18:17 50K. Our third female in the two-lapper was Denise Knight, who came all the way from Chapin, SC. Denise ran a smart race to manage the most even split (+8:21) and fastest second loop (3:15:14) of any woman on the day.

Now on to the men. We already mentioned the uncharacteristically hot and humid weekend, right? That makes Michael Heimes 50K all that more impressive. Heimes ran a 2:06:06 first loop and 2:13:14 second loop, both of which would have won the 25K race. His final time of 4:19:20 is the new 50K course record, besting Jeff Powers’ 4:20:37 from 2012. (Jeff still holds the 25K CR though.) Heimes had a pretty reasonable shot at the 50-mile record too, but we couldn’t convince him to continue for a third loop!

Iain Ridgway and Gonzalo Reviriego came in tied for second after the first loop, with Jon Boser in hot pursuit less than two minutes later. Ridgway ran a faster Loop 2 to take second place in 5:12:53. Reviriego held on to third, while Boser continued on to a 50-mile finish. The men’s masters race was close too, with Jon Wade of Hamilton, ON, taking the top spot by less than four minutes.

The 50K had many other notable performances. Lorrie Tily, former FLRC President, completed the 50K for the twentieth time. Add to that her one 50-mile finish, and that’s 21 ultra-distance finishes in the event’s 31 editions. Due to course changes over the years we’re not 100 percent sure of her total lifetime mileage at this race, but it’s somewhere around 700 miles.

Harland Bigelow’s been in the sport for over half a century, and at 71 years young he nabbed his sixth straight 50K finish. Emily Seltzer earned her first ultra finish while running the entire 33 miles with her father and brother, ensuring that Team Seltzer all finished together. (She sure picks the tough ones — her first marathon was a few years ago at the notorious Monster.) We had numerous other first-time ultra finishers, plus a handful who doubled back after running 40 miles around Letchworth State Park at Many on the Genny a week earlier.

* We recognize that some 50K and 50-mile runners missed a turn mid-way through their first loop, in some cases adding extra mileage. We remarked that turn with extra flags ASAP and apologize for any confusion and aggravation it may have caused. We appreciate that participants were largely understanding, and at the finish line feedback from runners was overwhelmingly positive. We’ll learn from that mistake and be sure to correct it going forward.

50K Results With Splits

Iain Ridgway pursuing the 50K leaders as he skirts the edge of an early cow pasture.

 

Early action from the chase pack at The Outback (mile 13) on Loop 1.

 

Harland Bigelow is all smiles amongst the daisies as he goes for his 6th straight 50K finish.

50-Mile

The 50-mile race was a display of guts and sheer determination. Every 50-miler knew he or she had the chance to make an early exit after two loops and walk away with a 50K finish. 23 runners persevered through three loops as the thermometer continued rising.

Alanna Moss has a pile of 50K and mountain race finishes to her name, but this was her 50-mile debut. After a rough go in the National Forest last year, she came back to take the woman’s title this time. Moss kept a steady effort over the closing miles and held off the fourth and fifth place men to take fourth overall in 9:49:24. (The two men chasing her finished only 2-3 minutes later.) At 41, she was also the women’s masters winner (and second master overall.) Rounding out the top three were Julia Plourde in 10:23:32 and Melinda Bautista in 11:14:06. In a display of smart pacing, Plourde managed to run her third loop only 4:39 slower than her second.

Men’s winner Dillon Shaffer came through Loop 1 trailing only 50K leader Michael Heimes. Like women’s winner Moss, he’d never raced longer than 50K before today. Shaffer ran the second fastest Loop 2 on the day — again, only Heimes’ was faster. Shaffer’s 8:25:28 won the race by over 30 minutes. John Boser hung with the 50K chase pack early on and ultimately took second in the 50-mile in 8:57:55. Boser said prior to the race that he was originally hoping for a sub 8-hour finish, but he wisely adjusted his expectations to match the weather and in the end was happy with a sub-9 and second place. Paul Italiano took the masters win and third overall to earn his cow in 9:35:53.

Elsewhere in the 50-mile: Lucas Lemanski came out from Chicago and threw down hard on the “Baby Loop” — the final half-mile around the finish area — tying for the fastest Baby Loop with winner Shaffer. Allan Co completed his first and only ultra and at the finish swore it would be his last. Odds are 20 to 1 that he’s on Ultrasignup right now looking for his next :) Vinny Cappadora won the just-created Broken Wrist Division, completing 50 miles with his forearm in a hard-shell cast. An ultrarunning veteran, this was also Cappadora’s comeback after two years away from racing due to injury.

Did anyone catch those sweet Michael Jackson dance moves on video? That was Guillermo Ayala, only minutes after a sixth place finish in the 50-mile, declaring “This is for all the volunteers!” Talk about boundless energy — Ayala just ran the steep, rocky, and rugged Manitou’s Revenge a week earlier. And yes, he showed off his MJ prowess at that race too!

50-Mile Results With Splits

Guillerno Ayala moments before notching 50M finish #6.

Thank You

Every race has tons of moving parts behind the scenes, and this race couldn’t have happened without the support of many individuals and organizations: Wilderness Search and Rescue provided a communication network that helped track runners, keep people on course, and administer medical treatment where needed. Jeff and Kathy Sikora have volunteered their services to us as WSAR crew chiefs for the past 18 years, and have decided to retire. They will surely be missed at our races!

The National Forest Service’s team of rangers helped us with trail maintenance and allowed us to hold our race on their land. Albany Running Exchange provided timing services, finish line DJ-ing, and all the corny puns and (occasionally) funny jokes that kept spectators, crews, and volunteers entertained at home base. Fittnell Farms continues to cater our event year after year and dished out all that tasty, post-race real food.

Our sponsors: Rooster Fish Brewing, for the finish line kegs and growler awards; Wegmans (Ithaca) for their generous coffee donation; NBS Nutrition for the electrolyte drink provided at all the aid station. (NBS is a new nutrition product company — if you liked their sports drink or want to try more, check out their website on how to order some.)

There are too many individuals to thank by name in this post, but we certainly didn’t forget you. We’ll give you all a big shout out and virtual high-five soon. But we do want to recognize first year Race Director Alexandra Kleinerman, who took over the helm from Steve Shaum. Alex is RD at four of Ithaca’s biggest events, including FLRC’s Skunk Cabbage Road Race, the Gorges Ithaca Half, and the Cayuga Lake Triathlon. This was her first time directing a trail or ultra race, and, along with her husband John Hohm, did a bang-up job in a large-production event. So thank you for keeping the Fifties going strong into its fourth decade.

What’s Next?

The Finger Lakes 50s is part of our annual Trail Circuit, with rankings based on performance and total mileage completed. Next on the docket is the Forest Frolic on July 14. This is a low-key, singletrack race out in Kennedy State Forest. Check out our event calendar for the rest of our Trail Circuit, including Forge the Gorgeous, The Monster Marathon & Half, and Danby Down & Dirty. We’ve also got a summer track series and plenty of road racing on tap.

As for the Fifties, registration will again open on January 1 for the 2019 race, with a waitlist to follow. So until next time, keep on moooooving and remember — “Don’t let the cows out!”

Happy trails,

Finger Lakes Runners Club

The day was hot and dry but the trails were not without mud!

 

Michael Heimes keeps the pace hot before the sun gets too far overhead.

 

Runners enjoy the valley view while crossing the 2nd of 3 open pastures.

 

Anyone remember these tie-dyes from a few years ago?

 

Pam Champlain came from Apex, NC, to enjoy the Upstate NY greenery.

 

A runner goes with the Jedi robe look in order to stay cool.

 

FLRC’s June Track Meet Hosts Fast Times and Lots of Kids

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FLRC’s first summer meet of 2018 at Lansing High School was a rousing success, with 142 runners participating, thanks to large groups from the Ithaca Youth Bureau and the new Lansing Lightning club. They brought a ton of young children, joining our usual clubs: the Auburn Pulsars, Southern Tier SOAR, and Team PREFO. That’s at least 50% more runners than the summer meets drew last year, and it was great (and utterly hilarious) see kids as young as 3 and 4 scampering down the track, weaving between lanes, and sometimes failing entirely to understand the concept of a finish line (“Come back, come back,” we’d yell as they headed into the turn after the 100m).

The meet kicked off with the 2 mile, a race that we may be swapping out for the 3000m next year, given that it’s never run in any competitive meets anymore. Joshua Derrick ran away from the field, clocking sub-5:00 miles to finish in 9:57, followed by Chris Mason of the Auburn Pulsars in 11:09. The lone woman in the race was Althea Johnston of the Ithaca Youth Bureau, who finished in a thoroughly impressive 17:54, given that she’s only 7 years old.

Next up was the 100m dash, which was the most popular event of the meet, given all the kids, with 86 finishers. Mike D’Angelo won it in 11.34 seconds, just edging out Eric Ryan in 11.51 and Leon Atkins of the Auburn Pulsars in 11.53. Elizabeth Shaw of the Lansing Lightning took the women’s crown with a 15.01, edging out her teammate Emma Beckley, who ran 15.09. Props to Kaarina Granroth, who managed to cover the 100 meters in 31.69 at age 3, beating out a couple of 4- and 5-year-olds.

The 800m proved to be an exciting race with Sean Satchwell of the 315 Elite TC winning in 2:11, followed closely by Franklin Skarupinski and Jason Tuori in 2:13.03 and 2:13.84. The top women’s times were identical at 3:06, but unfortunately 67-year-old Coreen Steinbach and 10-year-old Kyleen Brady weren’t in the same heat, so we didn’t get to see them battling to the finish.

One of the highlights of the meet was a race-walking clinic put on by nationally acclaimed race walker Erin Taylor-Talcott, fresh from a 3rd place finish in the 5K Race Walk at Nationals. After her clinic, we had an exhibition heat of the 800m for race walkers, with Kevin Nelson taking the tape in 5:02.

As so often happens, though, the mile was once again the highlight of the meet. After the gun, the pack settled in behind Scott Dawson for the first lap, with a four-man pack breaking free after that, including 2018 Twilight 5K winner Ethan Seltzer, Joshua Derrick (trying to double from the 2 mile), Cornell University grad student Adam Pacheck (who won both the Skunk Half Marathon and Monster Half Marathon in 2017), and Leon Atkins of the Auburn Pulsars, who ran the 800 in 1:52 for the University of Buffalo. Just past the halfway point, Pacheck took the lead, followed by Atkins, and together they pulled away from Derrick and Seltzer. Pacheck still held the lead at the final bell lap, but Atkins unleashed a ferocious kick to win in 4:32, putting 6 seconds on Pacheck in that last lap even as he was kicking too to come through in 4:38.

The race was far from over though. Derrick and Seltzer battled to the line for third and fourth, with Derrick outleaning Seltzer by 0.18 seconds in 4:48. Then, after Jason Tuori cruised in fifth in 5:12, 15-year-old Hayden Belanger of Southern Tier SOAR barely nipped 37-year-old Phil Kwasney of STRC by 0.41 seconds in 5:14. And then, Scott Dawson — remember him from the first lap? — ended up running a 1 mile PR in 5:17 just days after running a half-marathon PR with an 8th place finish in the Gorges Half Marathon.

The top women’s finishers weren’t close, but it was another multi-generational finish, with 52-year-old Michelle Rohl winning in 5:51 and 10-year-old Kyleen Brady second in 6:48.

As always, the meet ran smoothly thanks to the efforts of our experienced volunteers. Scott Wehrwein served as head timer for the final time before he leaves Ithaca for Western Washington University next month, Adam Pacheck ran backup timing until his race, after which Tonya Engst took over. Julie Quinn and Aaron Proujansky recorded finishers, and Jullien Flynn managed race entries, seeding, and results with aplomb, thanks in part to help from Kristina Schwartz. Becca Lovenheim and Carl Franck adroitly wrangled getting everyone into heats as clerks of course. Tonya Engst and David Keifer handled registration. And Bruce Roebal reprised his traditional role as starter while Tom Rishel was away. Then we all ate subs and enjoyed the fabulous sunset!

Ithaca Twilight 5K Results

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So another Twilight 5K is in the books. This year we had both rain and the train, 413 runners, several regional Girls on the Run teams, and Joel running barefoot in a banana suit. Approximately 140 runners were under the age of 18, the youngest being 7. The men’s winner was Ethan Seltzer in 17:23. The top woman was 13-year-old Kinsley Jacobs in 20:50.

Results | Text results with age group awards

We have many thank you’s to give so here it goes in no particular order. Thank you Bill King and John Donaldson for unloading the van, setting up the course and reloading the van afterward, and John for helping to unload at the storage unit. Super thanks to our traffic control monitors, Bill Gilligan, Jim Rogers, Morgan Howland, and Jack Gould of the Ithaca Fire Police, and FLRC board members Alan Lockett and Dan Longaker. Thank you to our course marshals Denice Cassaro, Emily Funk, Bailey Drewes, Julienne Flynn, Erin Larson, Julie Quinn, Jeremy Downs, Pete Kresock, Courtney Grey, and Aaron Proujansky! Tim Ingall—lead and sweep biker—you’re the man! Sherry, Maren, and Nora Golden, and Mark and Bryce—thank you for manning the water stops! Thanks to the finish line timing crew Leone Timing and Results Services.

We had an awesome packet-pickup/registration crew also: Pete Dady, Amelia Habicht, and Emily Funk heading up Tuesday pickup at Finger Lakes Running & Triathlon Company. Thanks to them and the folks at the store for the use of their location for packet pickup. On race day, we had Steve Shaum, Jon Shaff, Brenda Michaud, Ally Jauquet, Pete Kresock, Sarah Anderson, and Mike Allinger working to get everyone registered on time. Thanks everyone for a great evening!

If we’re forgetting someone here, we’re truly sorry. (And please let us know!) Without all of you, FLRC could not continue to hold these events!

– Race Directors Mickie Saunders-Jauquet and Gary McCheyne

Mr. Hector’s Thom B Race Recap

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Now that everyone’s cold hands have finally warmed up, we here at Mismanagement HQ would like to offer a recap of Saturday’s festivities, held in memory of Thom Bugliosi. Given the weather, we are frankly amazed that about 18 first-timers of the 110 folks made it across the finish line, from 132 total registered. This is one reason why Finger Lakes trail running requires toughness, and will make you tougher as you continue along the path of the FLRC Trail Circuit.

As if on queue, the race day rains started at the stroke of 7 AM when the opening bell rang, keeping the long-haulers from overheating on the first couple of laps. The trail was in pretty fine shape leading up to the 10 AM start, but of 80 pairs of shoes have a way of softening up the wet ground. Therefore the final push in the 42K proved even more challenging.

With respect to the race results, notable performances of the day include the following:

13K:

Amelia Kaufman led Yvette De Boer by 90 seconds for the women’s win. Former co-RD Shelly Marino was able to keep up with Audrey Balander for a spell, though not long enough to secure top Turbo-Vet. Adam Engst took the men’s win handily, with the other top five runners four minutes off and finishing within mere seconds of each other. To the delight of those at the finish, a couple folks came late to the dance, but they happily jumped in and caught up with much of the pack for a morning well spent.

26K:

A close race between Cornell grad Michael Selig and local triathlon stud Brian Lee, ended with Selig ahead by 30 seconds in his last year as an Open competitor. Fourth overall and first woman Charlotte Malmborg led Open winner Jennifer Selig by five minutes. Team Atrocious stringer Dumptruck Rossiter ran another loop in memory of his friend — the titular Thom Bugliosi — but let Kevon Brisson of Cicero take Turbo-Vet since D-Truck retired from racing after last year’s Thom B.

42K:

Men’s winner Andrew Siefert was credited with “going the extra mile” and finishing in 4:06 by way of the parking lot due to a tactical error. Locals Nancy Kleinrock outlasted local Sheena Heise for the women’s win in 4:25, as the pair took the fifth and sixth spots overall. Ultra regulars Ed Housel and Cory West were out once again for Ed’s last appearance as a Vet, placing second and third, with Josh Buczek in fourth rounding out the front of the pack. Turbo-Vet winner Jim Chely — running on a strict eight-mile-per-week training routine — outpaced Ron Cunningham in 4:50. Local trail fiend Paige Anderson raced Elvina Scott to a 5:20 finish, leaving them with Turbo-Vet and Vet women’s wins.

The neat parts of trail racing are the ones often found in solitude out on the trail, forever a memory to those who push hard to reach their goals. A couple local trail denizens, David Losee and Kevin Tripp, fought off cramps and hypothermia — as did many of you! — to secure their marathon finishes just under the wire. Amanda Hsu and Paul Maza needed a few extra victory laps to properly welcome the spring, each collecting 29 miles total. Never one for conventionality, Peter Keirn donned his customary kilt, sandals, and hunting hat for his long forest journey.

Naturally, this amazing event could not go on without the efforts of some important folks who make this possible. Our thanks to:

  • Ann and Charlie Leonard, who swept the course and continually steward the land.
  • Mike Ludgate, the Leonards, Susan Rausch, Johnny Rocket, and the rest of the Friends of Hammond Hill.
  • Susan Rausch of Camp Earth Connection for hosting us.
  • CNY Wilderness Search and Rescue for keeping us tallied, safe, and on-trail.
  • Hammond Hill Social Club for trail condition updates.
  • NYS Deptartment of Environment Conservation for overseeing this gem of a multi-use forest.
  • The timing crew, led by Scott Wehrwein, with help from course marker Eric Sambolec, crew chief Adam Engst, and Kayla and Judson Powers.
  • Setup and breakdown: Thanks to Adam and Tonya Engst, Scot Jacobs, Eric Sambolec, Pete Kresock, and the few of you cool enough to jump in and assist wherever you could.We’re looking forward to the rest of the season and invite you to come back to Ithaca on June 2 during the Ithaca Festival. The FLRC next hosts the Tortoise & Hare Trail Run at Buttermilk Falls State Park, followed by the Finger Lakes 50s (volunteers needed) on June 30, and the beginner-friendly, ever-gorgeous Forest Frolic 7K/15K on July 14. And don’t miss out on the STRC’s Tanglefoot Trail Runs on Fathers Day — part of our Trail Circuit. All this and more at https://fingerlakesrunners.org/flrc-trail-circuit.

    Yours always on happy trails,
    ~Joel C. & Gary M.
    Mr. Hector & Mr. Eckshonn, Thom B. Trail Runs

Marathon Start

2018 Skunk Cabbage Recap and Thank You

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Most of the 1000+ Skunk Cabbage runners who registered during the winter months naively believed winter would be long gone come race day. When April 8 finally rolled around, runners could only contemplate “What was I thinking?” as they raced their way through a snow squall and heavy winds over East Ithaca’s backroads. Half marathoners had the pleasure of a strong tailwind for much of the first half, only to get smacked in the face with an equally aggressive headwind as they turned onto Ellis Hollow Creek Road just past the halfway point. When it was all said and done 625 runners competed the half marathon, with another 348 10K finishers. Because of the adverse weather conditions finishing times were generally slower all-around, although some runners did achieve personal records.

Kim Vona of Buffalo was our women’s 10K winner in 38:50. Defending champion William Hoyne took the men’s title in 34:01, over 30 seconds off his winning time from 2017 when the course conditions were much better. (Hoyne also took second place in the 2016 10K.) Caty Menard and Joe Woodworth won the 10K Masters awards. Ann Sick won the women’s Grandmasters (50+) title, while on the men’s side it was Mookie Kent (who also was the overall winner at the last year’s 5 & 10.) At age 53, Kent was third overall in the Skunk 10K and our first over-40 finisher.

Over 13.1 miles, Ithaca’s Jennifer Boerner won the women’s race for the second straight year with a blazing fast 1:24:14. Perennial Skunk Cabbage speedster Richard Powell, the 2016 winner, again topped the field in 1:13:23. (No stranger to the Ellis Hollow hills, Powell also took second place in 2017 and 2015.) Cassandra Crane and Yvette DeBoer were our women’s Masters and Grandmasters winners, respectively. In the men’s race, Scott Dawson edged out Kenny Makosch by five seconds for the Masters win, while Boris Dzikovski failed to get lost and won the men’s Grandmasters division. (You can read Scott’s blog post about the race here.) Each of these age group winners — from both race distances — was also awarded an RRCA New York State Championship medal for his or her effort.

RRCA NY State Award Winners

Results and Race Photos

Have a blog post or any media links you’d like us to share? Let us know and we’ll link to it on our web page. And let’s see your photos! Tag #SkunkCabbageClassic and @FLRCithaca on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and consider joining our Strava group.

Link to results

10k Results with Age Group awards (text)

Half marathon results with Age Group awards (text)

Race photos from photographer Steve Gallow: Coming soon.

Facebook photo album from Matthew Gawors:

Skunk Cabbage Half Marathon & 10kYour Next Racewww.HeraldofVictoryMarathon.comUpstate Half Series – Skunk, Earth Day, HeraldCustomize Your Runwww.ConfluenceRunning.com

Posted by Confluence Running on Sunday, April 8, 2018

Notes

Did you forget to pre-order a shirt and still want something to remember the day? We have a limited quantity of shirts available for purchase for $15 apiece. (Click for image.) E-mail Race Director Alex at ak235@cornell.edu to grab one before they’re gone!

If you finished the Half Marathon and did not receive a medal but would still like one, you can stop at Finger Lakes Running Company in the Ithaca Commons to pick one up. The same goes for any Age Group award winners who did not pick up their gift card awards after the race.

Thank You

The race organizers would like to recognize everyone who pitched in his or her time to help make the race possible. Major kudos for those whose spent volunteer hours outside enduring the crazy weather as they encouraged and supported all of our participants. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

  • Setting up, managing and breaking down course, including the start/finish line — Gary McCheyne, Charles Fay, Bob Talda, Evan Kurtz, Joe Reynolds, Carl Franck, Jullien Flynn, Bob Walters, Joel Cisne, and Ian Golden.
  • Saturday packet pickup, day of registration and shirt sales — Shelly Marino, Amelia Habicht, Gretchen Gilbert, Emily Funk, Jon Shaff, Maria Costanzo, Sue Aigen, David Keifer, Mike Allinger, Caroline Rasmussen, Ashley Schmidt, Laurie Cuomo, Marlaina Gehret, and Siham Safi.
  • RRCA table — The Jauquet family.
  • Food setup and management — Sarah Drumheller, Alissa Short, Amy Panek, Isabelle Schweitzer, Kerra Quinn, and Jess Boulia.
  • Motorcycle Lead — Neil Klohmann.
  • Cyclists — Adam Engst, Tom Hartshorne, Emily Funk, Lauren Brzozowski, and David Mountin and his friend Tom.
  • Water Stops — Katahdin Sandy, Myriah Marnell, Donal Fitterer, Marian Fowler, Albert Fowler, Elizabeth, Fowler, Shealena Hartwell, Carl Hartwell, Neil Schwartzbach, and Sally Schwartzbach.
    • The Cornell Running Club — Kimberly Chen, Moriah Adeghe, Julia Tantillo, Polen Guzelocak, and Jeremy Yong.
    • The Ithaca Hash House Harriers — Pete Dady and crew.
    • Pickle Ball Rocks! — Karen Hom, Lou Hom, Molly Hom, Jack Hom, and Dave Lawrence.
    • Alpha Phi Omega — Nathaniel Garry, Dorothy Leung, Angela Zhang, Meera Bhide, Molly Zhang, Caitlin Garbo, Reba and Michael Klingensmith, Matthew Vani, and Karuna Katariwala.
  • Course Marshals — Nathaniel Garry, Dorothy Leung, Michael and Sarah Sullivan, Nick Bennett, Jake Read, Beverly Chin, Dara Panter, Alan Lockett, Shelia Squier, Bruce Roebal, Gerrit Van Loon, Liz Vance, Steven Folsom, Mary Ann and Tom Rishel, Ruth Sproul, Nora McIver-Sheridan, Karlene Smith, Brigid Shipman, Jason Hamm, Ching Pang, Kieran Loehr, Pooja Reddy, Craig and Maureen Trowbridge, Jenna Oliver, Ariana Gracia-Cassani, Cara Smith, Ruby Jin, Jia Yi Wang, Bill Addo and Jennifer Christianson.
  • Finish Line Awards — Brenda Michaud, Claire Colvin and her friend Talia, and Reba and Michael Klingensmith.

Additional thank you to this year’s Skunk Cabbage sponsors for helping to make the race possible. Please support our local businesses and organizations just as they supported us in putting on this event. Gimme Coffee, Buffalo Wild Wings (Ithaca), Wegmans, CNY Racing, Tompkins County Amateur Radio Association, Finger Lakes Running Company, Ithaca Milk, Ithaca Bakery,  and Gatorade. We also wish to thank Cornell University, the Cornell Running Club, the Road Runners Club of America, and the Ithaca running community for their continued support of this event!

So what’s next?

Now that you’ve completed Skunk, why not jump into the Earth Day Half Marathon (April 22, Syracuse) and the Herald of Victory Half (May 27, Binghamton) and earn yourself an extra sweet medal for finishing the Upstate New York Half Marathon Series.

Just interested in the Earth Day 13.1? Register here and use the code SKUNK18 for $13 off the registration fee. Those doing Skunk and Earth Day can earn an additional “Country Mouse/City Mouse” medal to add to their collections. Email willowrunningny@gmail.com to let them know!

Looking to supplement your road running? The FLRC Trail Circuit this summer offers a number of awesome options. Thom B (May 12) is up next, and you can’t beat the beauty of the Hammond Hill trails in the springtime!

We look forward to seeing you on the roads, track, and trails this summer. Save the date for the 38th Annual Skunk Cabbage, usually the second Sunday in April, 2019.